University’s fundraising totals increase in 2005

Yale ranked 11th in a national survey of private donations to universities released last Thursday, with a total of $285,706,955 raised in fiscal year 2005.

The 1,005 respondents to the Council for Aid to Education’s annual “Voluntary Support of Education” report released last Thursday raised $25.6 billion total in private donations during the 2005 fiscal year, which represents a 4.9 percent increase from 2004. Yale’s individual fundraising totals increased 6 percent from survey results in the previous year, when development officers raised approximately $268,0000.

Stanford University raised $603,585,914 in 2005, placing the school first among respondents.

The changes from 2004 to 2005 range from a decrease of approximately 20 percent for some universities to increases greater than 1,000 percent for others, said Ann Kaplan, the director of the Volunteer Support of Education survey. The economy’s performance in the survey year was prosperous enough that the increase was expected, Kaplan said. Yale’s performance, which slightly exceeds the national average, is reasonable given its ranking among the top respondents, she said.

“[Yale’s performance] is typical,” Kaplan said. “Most of the ones on the top of the list probably went up more than the average.”

John Lippincott, the president for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, said in a statement that the report’s results reflect an upward trend over the last decade and the economy’s relative prosperity.

“The increase in contributions recorded by the [survey] reflects not only the decades-long upward trend in giving to higher education but also the strong correlation between the health of the economy and the growth in private donations,” Lippincott said.